Nightmare Night: Foals being Foals
by Kendell
Summary: The CMC decide to spend Nightmare Night with some very unexpected company. Namely their newly reformed former nemesis, who is experiencing the holiday as herself for the first time in her life. How will this go? Adorable. Very adorable.


Edited by my friend Alexwarlorn. Coverart by FlavinBagel thanks! Hope you guys enjoy it!

* * *

Nightmare Night was always a fun time around Ponyville for the foals. It was a favorite holiday for most of Ponyville for that matter. It was even more so now that Princess Luna was in full support of the holiday. And Ponyville had a little bit more money to put into the budget given Nightmare Moon herself had appeared in Ponyville, making it a bit more of a tourist hot spot this time of year (especially since Luna was scheduled to return this year).

Discord had made an official promise he would not make anypony's costume more 'realistic' now that he was free and reformed. He did not, however, agree to not bring Nightmare Night props to life. Fluttershy convinced him to give them a town to live in after, however.

This night in particular was special to three little fillies, as it was going to be a special one. One they were actually looking forwards to.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders ran away from Carousel Boutique excitedly, headed for the one place in Ponyville they'd only willingly gone to once in the past. Sweetie Belle was dressed in a Victorian style blue, pink, and green dress with a powdered wig on her head and a pink feather in it. She's the pony noble who got her head chopped off, and her big sister was saying how period costumes were in that year. Scootaloo was a cute little Wonderbolt and Applebloom wore a platypus costume, complete with a fake beak over her muzzle. They'd just finished (with Rarity's permission) TP'ing the tree outside the building. Rarity felt it'd add to the show.

"Think she got her stuffy mom to let her come along?" Scootaloo asked, using a wing to adjust her goggles. Even if they did nothing.

"Sure, she said she had it covered, right?" Applebloom asked, giving a smirk.

"I'm so excited!" Sweetie Belle squeaked. "This is going to be so much fun!"

The trio put off Nightmare-Nighting until they had a full party. The temptation did not make it easy, given the sheer volume of it currently scattered over Ponyville. Ponies had a surprisingly high sugar tolerance. Sweetie Belle recalled Twilight saying during Twilight Time that it had something to do with mana refilling faster if the pony ate plenty of sugar.

The trio galloped towards the rich part of town, passing First Base and his big brother, the former having cardboard guard armor on and the latter being dressed as a Siren, complete with fangs. Even though they'd only been to their target once, everypony in Ponyville knew everypony else and where they lived. Said house was, as with the rest of Ponyville, done up for the holiday, though naturally with a much higher budget. Like the magically animated pony skeleton that erupted out of a grave next to them and caused all three to scream. Then laugh.

"Good one," Applebloom said, the trio continuing forwards.

"I just pretended to be scared..." Scootaloo covered, but had a goodnatured grin.

Ringing the door bell, the trio waited and a maid dressed as a robot answered. "Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!"

"Good costumes," replied the maid, Shiny Star, dropping some expensive chocolates into their bags.

"Thanks," the trio replied.

The maid turned. "Lady Diamond Tiara! Your friends are here."

"Coming!"

A few moments later, Diamond Tiara trotted up with Silver Spoon next to her. Diamond Tiara had temporary white dye in her fur, her mane and tail exchanging purple for a bright blue . She had a pink bow tied around the base of her tail, a fake unicorn horn held to her forehead by a band that went under her mane. Her Cutie Mark was covered by sticker of blue cross-shaped objects, and she had a crown on her head instead of her normal tiara. Silver Spoon on the other hoof, was dressed up in golden armor, looking the part of a royal guard. The trio were still getting used to seeing the two of them have real, non-malicious smiles.

"Thank you, Shiny Star," Diamond said, giving a smile.

The maid's eyes widened for a moment, then gave a touched smile. "Thank you, Miss Tiara..."

"Daddy! I'm going Nightmare-Nighting with Applebloom and her friends now!" Diamond Tiara called.

Filthy Rich, dressed in a king costume nodded. Spoiled Rich stood next to him, wearing a flowing purple dress with a black cape with a golden pendant with a red jewel holding it on, a gold crown on her head. She said nothing, just held an apple in one hoof. "Alright, princess, be careful!"

The five fillies trotted off from the house as the door closed behind them. "Nice costumes," Sweetie Belle remarked.

Diamond gave a proud smirk. "Thank you, I had Shiny Star help me tie the bow, but I did the rest myself. Picked it out myself. It was so much fun!" the little filly exclaimed, as if just doing what many kids did for a change was exhilarating.

Sweetie Belle looked her over. "Well you did a good job. Queen Majesty?"

The rich filly nodded. "Yeah, daddy read me the stories when I was little...she's the kind of pony I really want to be."

The little unicorn gave a smile. "Rarity read them to me too."

Silver Spoon smiled. "I just wanted to be a Royal Guard like daddy."

"Your pa is a Royal Guard?" Applebloom questioned.

"Yeah! Cool huh?"

No pony brought up the fact they'd thought she was Diamond's royal guard at first.

Applebloom smiled. It was odd seeing Diamond Tiara not seem bothered Silver had gotten to be the center attention for a bit. "...Speakin' of yer folks, Diamond Tiara, how did...yah know..." the farm filly asked, pointing back towards the foal's house.

The now spoiled sweet filly chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Oh, momma? Simple: I didn't ask _her_. Just daddy. Momma's been a lot less...momma to me lately anyway. Probably afraid I'll tell daddy how she acted at school. She's already on thin ice with the school board after Miss Cheerilee turned her in for that."

"Gotcha..." Applebloom said, deciding not to ruin their evening by talking about Diamond Tiara's family issues. "Oh! And Ah got a big surprise for yah!"

The pink filly blinked. "Huh? What is it?"

"Mah cousin Babs is comin'! She's waiting at the train station!"

Diamond's eyes shrank to pinpricks. "S-She is?"

"That's great Diamond Tiara! Now we can be friends again, right?" Silver Spoon asked, seeming rather excited.

"Y-Yeah, I'm sure that will be great..." Diamond said, trying not to pin her ears.

* * *

The fillies waited at the train station, four with excitement, one with...slightly less excitement. The Friendship Express' crew seemed to have gotten in on the festivities as well, as the train had Halloween decorations all over it, even the curtains.

The train came to a stop and out came a pair of ponies. One was an adult pink mare with yellow hair and a sunflower Cutie mark, currently dressed like a certain happy sunflower Scootaloo remembered Rainbow Dash never wanted to talk about for some reason. The latter was Babs Seed, the little brown filly wearing a brown wolfdog costume.

"Alright, Babs, enjoy dah night with yer cuz. I'm gonna go see how dah corn maze is goin'," Sunflower, Bab's elder sister, told her.

"Alright sis," replied the young filly.

"Babs!" called Applebloom as Sunflower headed off with a smile.

"Cuz!" called Babs, the two hugging one another, followed by the rest of the trio.

"So, can we see it real quick?" Scootaloo asked.

"Only if I can see yers."

The quartet of ponies unzipped the back of their costumes (or flipped her's up in Sweetie's case) and exposed their flanks. The Ponyville trio's flank was adore by a tri-colored shield with their mane colors. Scootaloo's having a lightning bolt in a wing, Sweetie Belle having a song note in a star, and Applebloom an apple in a heart. Bab's flank had a pair of scissors with apple slices as the handles.

"Dah others back home are still tryin' tah get their Cutie Marks, but I'm sure they'll get 'em in time," Babs said. The quartet hugged. "Glad we all got ours though."

"Same here!" Applebloom replied.

The quartet took a deep breath. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS FOREVER!"

After that reunion, Babs walked over to Diamond Tiara and Silver. The duo stood back during the meeting, Silver Spoon primarily because Diamond had. "Hey, girls."

"Hi Babs!" Silver called, giving a wave.

"...Hi..." Diamond Tiara replied, keeping out of eye contact.

The Manehattenite cocked her head. "Diamond, you alright? Applebloom told me ya were her friend now."

The filly looked down. "...Yeah...Look...ugh..." The pony gave a frustrated sigh and said something so low Babs couldn't hear it.

"Uh...what was dat?"

"...I said..." Diamond Tiara's voice trailed off. Silver looked concerned.

"Huh?"

Diamond Tiara gave a frustrated growl. "You were right, okay?! I had a bad attitude and...and...I was just a bully I admit it..."

"...Actually, I think dat whole mess was my bad."

The filly blinked and looked up. "What?"

Babs looked down. "With what Applebloom told me, I think we were both bullies _despite_ bein' treated like dirt...not because of it...and if I hadn't acted like a bully, none of dat woulda ever happened in the first place, and I...kinda coulda been a bit nicer at dah end, even if yah weren't in dah right either...Anyway, no hard feelin's ether way. Us reformed baddies gotta stick togetha don't we?" she asked, offering a hoof.

Diamond Tiara's eyes teared up a tiny bit, but she did her absolute best not to show it in the dark. "...Yeah...thanks..."

"Bump! Bump! Sugar lump rump!" the trio called, doing a three pony variant of Diamond and Silver's normal hoofshake.

The six little fillies then shared one big group hug.

"If ya asked me, I think dis is how it shoulda been dis whole time," Babs Seed said, giving a smile, the others nodded.

"Alright, let's get Nightmare-Nightin'!" Applebloom called. "Moonlight's a burnin'!"

"Right!"

* * *

The group knocked on a door to a blue shed. "One moment!" called a British accented voice. Followed by the sound of clanging metal and a strange buzzing noise. The door opened to reveal a silver mechanical pony with black openings for eyes and a slot for a mouth.

"Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!"

"What lovely costumes," said the voice, now with a slight robotic tinge to it. He dropped several bags of what looked like Gummy Bears, just a more humanoid. "Would you like some Jelly Babies?"

"Don't yah mean gummy bears?" asked Applebloom.

"Nope!"

"...Okay then..."

The six ponies walked away, Diamond Tiara looked at the Jelly Babies. "What are these things?"

Scootaloo shrugged, eating one. "Don't know, they taste good though."

"And he had a cool costume," Sweetie Belle pointed out.

The Doctor took off a the helmet he was wearing. "Stupid Cyber Ponies, deciding to make me work on a holiday! Oh well, made a good Nightmare Night outfit!"

* * *

"Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweat to bite!"

The door opened and a light kept the pony in shadows. A very familiar shadow.

"Twilight?" Applebloom asked.

The mare stepped out of the shadows...to reveal Derpy Hooves wearing purple wings taped to his her own wings, a wig on her mane and tail that looked like that of the Alicorn Princess. With a purple spray painted toilet paper roll as a horn.

"...Nope, not Princess Twilight," Diamond muttered.

Derpy pulled out a plate with paper bags on it and handed one to each of them.

"What's in it?" Babs questioned, looking at her bag.

"Chocolate-Pumpkin Muffins!" Derpy exclaimed with a big warm smile. "Happy Nightmare Night!"

"...Well there's chocolate in it..." Silver pointed out once Derpy closed the door.

"At least she got a costume upgrade," Diamond Tiara remarked, not seeming to notice how rude that seemed. "Did you see her costume last year?"

"Diamond, you did it again," Sweetie advised.

"Did what?"

"You said something mean again."

Diamond blinked, looking a little guilty. "I did? I just meant it as a joke..."

Sweetie Belle frowned. "Derpy wouldn't have taken it as a joke. A joke is something they'd laugh WITH you about."

"...Oh...sorry...I'm still trying to find out the difference..."

Scootaloo patted her on the back. "No hard feelings. Just watch it, alright?"

Diamond Tiara gave a small, genuine smile. "...Thanks..."

* * *

"Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!"

A purple pegasus with a pink mane and a star for a Cutie Mark answered the door, her costume being a witch's hat and outfit. "Great costumes, my little ponies."

She gave them bags of what looked like rainbow colored candies.

"What are they?" asked Babs, blowing a lock of mane out of her eye that even wearing her costume didn't get out of her eyes.

"Rainbow Berry candy. A friend of mine named Sweet Berry makes them!"

Scootaloo blinked, looking at the candy. "That sounds oddly familiar for some reason..."

Silver Spoon tried one. "Tastes good though..."

* * *

"Happy Nightmare Night!" announced a normally purple mare who'd dyed her fur white for this occasion and put on a genie outfit, handing out candy corn to the six ponies in a mildly hammy fashion. "I hope you're enjoying every last fright and fun moment!"

"Is it just me or did she act an awful lot like Trixie?" Babs asked, the group trotting away, the group merely nodded in agreement.

"Maybe they're related?" questioned Diamond Tiara.

* * *

"Wait, so how does this game work?" Diamond Tiara asked, the six now standing at the town's center, in front of the traditional Nightmare Night spider toss.

"You toss it and try to get it in the web," Sweetie Belle explained, her horn glowing and lifting a spider, which she tossed into the web, landing near the edge. "You've never played this game?"

"No...I normally just go Nightmare-Nighting in Canterlot and get a lot of expensive candy. Not that I'm complaining..." Diamond Tiara admitted, then took one of the spiders and threw it. Her first shot missed, but her second shot landed a little higher in the web than Sweetie's. "I got it!"

Applebloom smiled at Diamond taking glee in something so mundane and normal. She wondered how much of a foalhood Diamond had. It was good she was getting to enjoy it now.

* * *

"Alright, hold still!" called a pink mare with a yellow, orange, and pink mane, her tail purple and blue, her Cutie Mark a magenta and purple paint brush drawing lines. Her outfit was that of a clown, though her special talent showed in the make up.

The six fillies all stood on a table, in various poses they felt comfortable in. Diamond seemed to take her most regal pose, as did Sweetie Belle. Babs chose a classic howling pose for herself while Scootaloo did her best landing pose. Silver Spoon took on a knightly stance and Applebloom...stood there, not sure what a platypus did but certain it'd look cool.

Diamond had picked up the tab, she COULD afford it, after all, and...it felt GOOD to spend her money on a gift for somepony else.

"Alright, finished!"

The six ponies stampeded over to see their picture: one depicting the six of them as their costumes. Babs as a howling wolfdog pup, Diamond as the awe inspiring, but small Queen Majesty, Sweetie Belle as noblemare (or rather filly) from several hundred years ago holding her own head, Silver Spoon as a beautiful knight, Scootaloo as a proud Wonderbolt making their landing, and Applebloom as a Platypus in a pose that somehow made it look majestic.

The group laughed and pointed at various parts they liked in the picture.

"Thanks Miss..." Babs started, blowing her mane out of her eyes.

"Toola Roola," replied the mare, blowing a stray lock of her mane out of her eyes.

The other five blinked, looking at the two in confusion.

* * *

"A haunted corn maze?" asked Silver Spoon, looking over the Apple Family corn maze in confusion. "Your family grows corn?"

"We dabble," Applebloom replied, giving a proud smirk. "Scariest corn maze this side of Canterlot!"

Diamond Tiara looked a bit nervous. "So we're...supposed to get scared, right?"

"Yeah...don't worry, Diamond, getting' scared is part of the fun," Applebloom replied, patting her on the back.

"...Mother says rich pony shouldn't fear anything," Diamond replied, showing a bit of uncertainty.

Silver Spoon put a hoof on her back and gave a smile. "Well my momma says a lady shouldn't eat too much ice cream, but I sneak it sometimes," the silver Earth Pony 'whispered'.

Diamond Tiara slowly smiled in return. "Thanks...alright, let's go!"

All three jumped at the gate when Granny startled them with that silly horse mask she had hidden under her hood. Even Applebloom who knew she had it. To get Diamond more into it, Applebloom started laughing, getting laughs out at the others. Part of the fun about being scared was laughing at what scared you when you realized it was fake.

* * *

"Ah! What is that?!" Babs asked, jumping at the crunching under her hooves.

"Bones!" Applebloom replied in a spooky voice, making her and the others jump.

Diamond was the first to notice the white sticks were...well, sticks and let herself laugh at the situation she was in. It was so ludicrous, it became funny.

* * *

The group did get split up in the maze (Babs with Diamond and Silver), but both ended up going through the same situation: peeled grapes painted as eyeballs as Big Mac crept up in a mummy costume.

None of them actually got scared, but they did get a good laugh at the start at the eyes dropping down.

Diamond let herself laugh. "That...that was FUN!"

Babs chuckled and nudged her. "Feels good ta just let go and be a foal, huh?"

The pink pony nodded. "Yeah...I feel free..."

* * *

The trio heard screaming from elsewhere in the maze, but mainly focused on their own fun scares, until they were laughing and enjoying themselves emerging from the maze's other end.

"I don't think I've ever laughed that hard, it felt good!" Silver exclaimed, Diamond Tiara nodding without argument.

"Having fun?"

The group looked over to see a gray Earth Pony filly with an orange mane and tail, her Cutie Mark a magnifying glass. The oddest part however, was her eyes, which glowed a bright yellow with no centers.

The group screamed...then starts laughing at what they believed to be another Nightmare Night surprise. Except for Applebloom, who merely looked stunned.

"R-Ruby...w-what are you..."

The Earth Pony chuckled. "It's Nightmare Night, I'm allowed to visit tonight," she explained, giving a wink as she trotted over. "After all, ghosts don't stand out quite as much when they're expected," she whispered to the yellow Earth Pony.

A small smile formed on Applebloom's face and she nodded. "A-Alright...good to see yah, Ruby."

"Who's your friend, Applebloom?" Diamond Tiara questioned.

"This is Ruby, she's...uh, from out-of-town," the farm filly explained.

"Hi, good to meet you," the actually real ghost replied, giving a smile. "Oh, and Applebloom? Mitta says hi. She...couldn't make it, something...held her up."

Applebloom gave a knowing nod. "...Tell her I did too, okay?"

* * *

The six fillies and one ghost gathered in town square as Zecora took the stage and began to weave the tale of Nightmare Moon.

Diamond, Babs, and Silver were amazed by the special effects the zebra was able to produce to weave a tale of a fallen goddess who gobbled up children...and everypony jumped when the illusion of Nightmare Moon suddenly exploded into the real deal!

After many screams, the form of the Nightmare receded to reveal the form of the kindly Princess Luna, who spat out a pair of fake fangs.

"WELCOME OUR LITTLE PONIES! WE DO HOPE THOU ART ENJOYING NIGHTMARE NIGHT!"

Luna smiled as she got cheers, and a certain colt waved to her.

Diamond Tiara fainted at being in the presence of a goddess, but Sweetie Belle provided a mini couch.

* * *

"Still enjoying the make-believe spooky stories?" Ruby asked while the two were alone.

Applebloom nodded. "Yeah...Ah knew Ah was in a real one...but Ah ain't lettin' that stop meh from enjoyin' the fun ones. Ah'm a foal, Ah don't want that to change until Ah grow up."

Ruby gave a smirk. "...And I wouldn't want it any other way."

* * *

"Alright, time for-" Babs was interrupted by a yawn. "Me ta head back ta Manehatten girls..."

The group, all six, hugged. "Thanks...and Babs?" Diamond Tiara questioned.

"Yeah, Diamond Tiara?"

"...I'm glad we're friends."

Bab smiled in return. "So am I, D'."

Babs met with her sister at the train. "How'd it go, sis?"

Sunflower smirked. "Fine, scary as always, but for some reason Rainbow Dash was more scareda me than dah fake bones or eyeballs!"

The CMC and their former nemesis' waved as the train departed, then gave a loud yawn.

"Well...I'd better be getting home, or daddy might get worried," Diamond Tiara said, then gave a smile. "...That was fun. We should do it next year."

Silver Spoon nodded. "Like, totally," she said, then laughed at her own mockery of her now discarded valley girl accent.

Applebloom nodded, and looked to Ruby. "Next year?"

The ghost nodded. "Next year...but I'll be going as a ghost again...thanks for letting me feel like a foal for just a little bit, Applebloom."

Diamond Tiara looked sympathetic. "Back home doesn't let you act like one much?"

"You could...say that..."

"I know the feeling...it feels good to be a foal, huh?"

"...Nothing else like it."

Foals will be foals...and often they should be. Nothing more, nothing less. And what better time than a night that was made for them, like Nightmare Night?

* * *

Happy late Halloween and/or Nightmare Night!


End file.
